‘Proud is an understatement’

Beaumont dance studio brings two national titles home from Los Angeles

Beaumont’s iRule Dance Studio brought home two national team titles, as well as several individual placements, from the LA DanceMagic competition in Irvine, Calif., last month.

Both iRule’s junior (ages 7-12) and senior (13 and up) dance companies claimed the national title in their age divisions. Seven-year-old Brett Rule came in third overall for her solo, and iRule teaching assistant Xavier Richmond was the first runner-up for the competition’s national male dancer of the year.

The dancers also took four days of classes while there, but there was a little time left over for leisure. Thanks to iRule’s foundation, the dancers were also able to visit Disneyland.

“We had 125 people go — 50 dancers and then their families,” owner Charlee Rule said. “These kids, they worked during the Christmas break, they worked on spring break — it’s a different kind of group. This isn’t recreational.”

Rule said her dancers have been practicing their routines since last August, but that was only half the battle, as the dancers had to raise most of the funds for the trip themselves.

“In November of last year, we went to Houston and competed and qualified, and then worked towards the goal of going to L.A.,” Rule said. “We raised money all year long. We had a lot of private donations, and we had a gala night where we all got together and had a band. We raised most of our money from that night, and we had an auction — things like that. The kids sold candy — I mean, there was nothing that we didn’t do. It’s a family effort, and a team effort, and we made it happen.”

Rule said she was very proud of the way her dancers performed, especially since one of the groups they were competing against was featured on “Live to Dance,” Paula Abdul’s show on CBS.

“They were in the top of that,” Rule said. “I mean, they had huge studios, tons of kids — it’s overwhelming. And to see that we still had results from it — that’s pretty incredible. Proud is an understatement.”

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